Coalition Tasks Minister of Arts, Hannatu Musa Musawa, Over Alleged N4bn Office Rent

By Our Reporter

A non-profit organization, the Coalition for Transparency, Equity and Justice, has raised serious concern over certain activities of the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy under Barrister Hannatu Musa Musawa’s watch.

Specifically, the coalition, in exercise of its rights under the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, has written the Minister, requesting explanations on her office’s decision to allocate a staggering N4billion for renting an office.

The said property, a glass house, is said to be located along ICPC Road, in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

In a letter dated February 14, 2025, signed by its Executive Secretary, Dr. Chima Chibuike, the coalition requested for clarification on the alleged payment of a whopping N3billion, out of the N4billion, to the property’s landlord (a former Governor in one of the South-Eastern States), without formal approval from the Federal Executive Council, FEC, as mandated by extant government regulation.

According to the coalition, the payment, which was reportedly made in tranches, perhaps to avoid detention, clearly overshot the approval limit for Ministers.

The coalition equally sought explanation for the allegation that the Minister laid off highly qualified and vastly experienced top officials of the Ministry and reportedly replaced them with less experienced personnel. Equally worrisome to the NGO is another allegation that the Minister “recommended about 50 aides” for employment in the Ministry.

The coalition also expressed profound worry over yet another allegation that the Minister was instrumental to the appointment of Ahmed Sodangi, a 32-year-old man said to be her stepson, as the Director General of the National Gallery of Arts, NGA.

Before his appointment as DG, Sodangi was reported to be a Level 09 officer with the Bank of Industry, BOI.

The coalition asserted that “it’s instructive that the Bank of Industry where Sodangi last worked before emerging as DG NGA sponsored major Arts Exhibition in London and Nigeria but that should not be a yardstick for his appointment.”

The coalition added up these weighty allegations and concluded that they have grave implications for the country’s public service.

Contacted on phone, Tuesday morning, for the Ministry’s reaction to the weighty allegations, the Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Minister, Dr. Nneka Ikem-Anibeze, denied knowledge of any wrongdoing by her principal, the Minister.

She categorically rejected the allegation that the Ministry rented an office for N4billion and paid N3billion in installments, declaring that “the entire budget of the Ministry is a little over N4billion? How is it possible that somebody would rent an office accommodation with N4billion when our entire budget is just about that amount?”

What she did not reveal, however, is the fact that the Ministry also received grants.

Ikem-Anibeze also vigorously rejected the claim that the Minister recommended the employment of about 50 aides.

“We operate from the Federal Secretariat (Abuja),” she restated. “We (Minister’s aides) operate from the Conference Room of our Office at the Federal Secretariat. Anybody can come and count those of us in the room, and see if we are up to 50.”

The Minister’s spokesperson also responded to the allegation of irregular employments and nepotism that the Coalition for Transparency, Equity and Justice levelled against the Minister.

Maintaining that her boss follows due process in her conduct, Ikem-Anibeze flatly denied that Barrister Hannatu Musa Musawa employed her “stepson” as the Director General of the National Gallery of Arts.

“The Honorable Minister does not have any son-in-law or stepson,” she declared. “She is not married and she has only one daughter. How can somebody who is not married have son-in-law or stepson, as the person who called me last week (on the story) said? The Honorable Minister has only one daughter and she is unmarried.”

Indeed, Ms. Hannatu Musa Musawa is not a stranger to controversies. For instance, Nigerians have not forgotten the controversy that dogged her screening for Ministerial appointment by the Senate when she was unable to provide clear evidence of her mandatory one-year national service.

But the Minister has consistently maintained that she had done nothing unlawful as far as the programme was concerned.

In an interview with Arise News television, on October 7, 2024, she said: “I did not break the law. I did NYSC and finished. I can assure you that nothing was done to break the law or regulation. Everything that I did was in accordance with the law.”

In April 2024, she floored those who took her to court over her suitability to serve as Minister sequel to her NYSC controversy. A Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the case as Justice James Omotosho ruled that the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi to institute the matter.

However, that was not the first time that Musawa’s national service would generate heat.

In 2020, the year of COVID 19, then President Muhammadu Buhari had nominated the Katsina-born British-trained lawyer as a National Commissioner representing the North-West geopolitical zone on the National Pension Commission Board.

But the Senate thrashed her nomination in October 2020 after its Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters revealed that she had failed to provide an NYSC certificate or exemption letter.

She was second time lucky when, in June 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed her as Special Adviser on culture and entertainment economy.

On October 30, 2024, she resumed formally as the Minister of the newly restructured Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism, and the Creative Economy, following the merger of the Ministry of Tourism with the existing Ministry of Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy.

Enacted in 2011, the Freedom of Information Act, among others, makes public records and information more freely available, provides for public access to public records and information, protects public records and information to the extent consistent with the public interest. Simply put, it empowers Nigerians to request information from public institutions, companies with government control, and private companies that provide public services.